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Obi FAQ

  1. What is the difference between selecting a phrase and selecting entire audio content of a phrase?
  2. Can I make out the elapsed or remaining time during playback?
  3. How can I convert DTB audio to MP3? Can I convert it into any other format?
  4. How can I zoom the phrase? Can I zoom a particular phrase only?
  5. Can I mark or select the phrase for editing at a later stage during the time of recording?
  6. How can I paste a piece of audio inside a phrase?
  7. How can I clear the list of recent projects?
  8. What is New project from import and how is it different from New Project?
  9. What is play with elapse back?
  10. Why doesn’t the audio play on navigating?
  11. What is the difference between zoom and audio zoom?
  12. What is the difference between the commands Delete Unused Data and Clean Unreferenced Audio?
  13. In which formats can Obi projects be saved using “Save Project As”?
  14. How do I apply phrase detection with different set of values?
  15. What is preceding silence audio?
  16. How can I change my microphone volume?
  17. What types of books can be produced in Obi?
  18. Can I select audio from multiple phrases?
  19. Is there any auto correct option for page numbers?
  20. How can I check for the correctness of the sequence of page numbers?
  21. How do I check for duplication of page numbers?
  22. Why is silence phrase marked as Unused?
  23. If the heading phrase is not the first phrase of the section, would the sequence of playing the phrases of the section change?
  24. What if I do not mark any phrase of a section as a heading phrase?
  25. When can I use blank phrases?
  26. I am not able to see the phrases that I created earlier. What should I do?
  27. Can I hide the Content View?
  28. Is there any Auto Save option in Obi?
  29. Can I import a DAISY DTB in Obi?
  30. What audio formats can be imported in Obi?
  31. Can I copy an item from one Obi project to another?
  32. Can I select multiple items in Obi?
  33. Is the project file the same as the DAISY DTB?
  34. What is a unique ID?
  35. I do not have a DAISY player, how can I hear the DTB?
  36. Can I open multiple projects in an instance of Obi?
  37. Can I open multiple instances of Obi?
  38. I want to perform some audio processing using Sound Forge. How can I do it?
  39. I have scanned images for a chapter of my book. The process of narrating the contents and recording in Obi is becoming very cumbersome. Can Obi change its skin like Windows Media Player to suit my requirements?
  40. After applying phrase detection, I lost some useful piece of audio from the beginning of the phrase. What could have happened?
  41. I imported a very long audio file in a phrase and have lost most of the other phrases in my section. What could have happened?
  42. While importing a DAISY book, some errors occurred. Can I still import my book?
  43. What is advanced recording mode?
  44. I encountered a package error code 2896 while installing Obi on Windows Vista. What should I do?
  45. What are system requirements for obi?
  46. Is obi compatible with 64bit windows operating system?
  47. I already have DirectX 10 on my machine, do i still need to install DirectX 9c to install obi?
  48. I encountered a package error code 2896 while installing Obi on Windows Vista. What should I do?
  49. Are there any accessibility features for people with low vision in Obi?
  50. If I have not saved the project, and a crash occurs, what can I expect to lose?
  51. I have cleaned unreferenced audio, can I revert to previous state? What can I undo?



  1. What is the difference between selecting a phrase and selecting entire audio content of a phrase?

    When you select a phrase clipboard of Obi will contain the phrase itself; whereas, if you select entire content of the phrase by pressing a single key A, the clipboard will contain the entire audio content present in the phrase, but not the phrase itself. This will result in different behaviors of the Paste command.

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  2. Can I make out the elapsed or remaining time during playback?

    Yes, the Transport Bar has a Time Display control that shows the elapsed/remaining time during playback. You can also hear the time by pressing F8.

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  3. How can I convert DTB audio to MP3? Can I convert it into any other format?

    You can encode an exported DTB to MP3 by selecting Convert audio to MP3 from the Tools Menu. This version of Obi does not allow you to encode in any other format.

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  4. How can I zoom the phrase? Can I zoom a particular phrase only?

    You can zoom the waveforms corresponding to all the visible phrases of a section by selecting Audio Zoom in or Audio zoom out from the View menu.

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  5. Can I mark or select the phrase for editing at a later stage during the time of recording?

    Yes, you can do it by pressing F9. The current phrase would be marked as Todo, and Obi would create a new one next to it in the same section for recording. For more information on marking the structure while recording, see Create the Structure while Recording.

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  6. How can I paste a piece of audio inside a phrase?

    First, play the audio of the phrase, and then pause at the position where you want to insert the audio. Then, use the paste command to paste the audio from the clipboard.

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  7. How can I clear the list of recent projects?

    The submenu of File->Recent Projects has a Clear List option at the end of the list of recently opened projects. Click on it to clear the list.

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  8. What is New project from import and how is it different from New Project?

    New project from import allows you to import the structure of the book from an xhtml file, whereas New project would create a blank project only and you have to create the structure manually.

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  9. What is play with elapse back?

    If you are playing a piece of audio at a faster rate and want to hear something just heard again at a normal speed, press E. Obi will go back a certain unit of time and start playing at the normal speed.

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  10. Why doesn’t the audio play on navigating?

    The option Play on navigate may be turned off. To turn this option on click Transport->Play on navigate on the menu.

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  11. What is the difference between zoom and audio zoom?

    Zoom magnifies or shrinks everything that is visible in the work area of the Obi screen, whereas audio zoom scales the waveforms corresponding to all the visible phrases of the section horizontally.

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  12. What is the difference between the commands Delete Unused Data and Clean Unreferenced Audio?

    Delete unused data deletes all the data items (sections or phrases) that are marked as Unused from the project, and this command can be undone. Whereas, Clean Unreferenced Audio removes the audio data that is not referenced in the project from the disk and this command cannot be undone.

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  13. In which formats can Obi projects be saved using “Save Project As”?

    The project can only be saved as a copy of the current project.

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  14. How do I apply phrase detection with different set of values?

    When you choose to apply phrase detection, a dialog box opens showing the parameters determined from the preceding silence phrase. If there is no silence phrase preceding the current one, the dialog box shows the default parameters. You can change them if you want to use different ones.

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  15. What is preceding silence audio?

    It is a phrase that holds a bit of audio for silence in your recording environment as it may differ from place to place. A preceding silence phrase is used for silence detection while auto-splitting a phrase.

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  16. How can I change my microphone volume?

    Your microphone volume can be changed via the system settings. Follow the steps given below to change it:

    1. Click Programs->Accessories->Entertainment->Volume Control on the Start Menu. Alternatively, you can double-click on the volume icon on the taskbar.

    2. Click Advanced Controls on the Options menu.

    3. Move the mic in volume slider up and down for increasing and decreasing the volumes respectively.

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  17. What types of books can be produced in Obi?

    Obi can produce digital talking books conforming to DAISY 3 and DAISY 2.02 standards.

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  18. Can I select audio from multiple phrases?

    No, arbitrary multiple selection is not allowed in Obi, and the same is true for the audio contained in phrases.

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  19. Is there any auto correct option for page numbers?

    No, Obi will point out the duplicate page numbers while exporting the project as a DAISY DTB, but you have to correct them manually.

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  20. How can I check for the correctness of the sequence of page numbers?

    You can only check the sequence manually.

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  21. How do I check for duplication of page numbers?

    Duplication of page numbers is checked automatically before exporting, when you give the Export as DAISY command. But, you can also check manually if you wish to do so.

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  22. Why is silence phrase marked as Unused?

    Silence phrase is marked as Unused as it is used only for editing and should not appear in the DTB.

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  23. If the heading phrase is not the first phrase of the section, would the sequence of playing the phrases of the section change?

    Obi will play all the phrases of the sections one by one from the first to the last. So, the audio from the heading phrase will be played after the audio from the preceding phrases have been played.

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  24. What if I do not mark any phrase of a section as a heading phrase?

    If you do not assign a heading role to any phrase of the section explicitly, the first phrase would be considered the heading phrase.

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  25. When can I use blank phrases?

    Blank phrases act as placeholders for audio content. You may use them for leaving a space for some audio content while recording. These can also be useful while creating a skeleton of the book.

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  26. I am not able to see the phrases that I created earlier. What should I do?

    A limited number of phrases are shown at a single unit of time in Obi and hence, the phrases of some sections may be hidden. Such phrases can be made visible by clicking View->Show section’s contents on the menu, or by pressing F5. Whenever you make the phrases of a section visible, phrases of some other section will automatically be hidden from the view.

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  27. Can I hide the Content View?

    No, the Content View cannot be hidden.

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  28. Is there any Auto Save option in Obi?

    Yes, you may configure Obi to save the changes automatically after some fixed amount of time. You may also choose to auto-save after each recording. These settings may be modified using the Project preferences tab of the preferences dialog.

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  29. Can I import a DAISY DTB in Obi?

    No, you cannot import a DAISY DTB in this version, but a future version may support this feature.

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  30. What audio formats can be imported in Obi?

    You can import audio files of wav/rif format (having a .wav extension). Please note that the audio files should have the same audio settings (like channel and sampling rate) as your project.

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  31. Can I copy an item from one Obi project to another?

    It is not possible to use the copy command across several instances of Obi. But, you can import audio files from the data folder of one project to another.

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  32. Can I select multiple items in Obi?

    You cannot select multiple items arbitrarily. But, when you select a section, all the phrases get selected, and if you select a section in TOC View, the subsections and their phrases get selected, too.

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  33. Is the project file the same as the DAISY DTB?

    No, the project is a xuk file, whereas the DAISY DTB is a collection of audio, navigation and synchronization files. A DTB is created when you export the project as DAISY.

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  34. What is a unique ID?

    Various schemes are available for identifying digital publications. In the DTB domain, the requirements for an identifier are simply to identify the publication in a manner that is highly likely to be globally unique. A major purpose of the uniqueness requirement is to prevent filename collisions among bookmark files. To meet this base requirement, a simple DTB id scheme might be used. A DTB identifier under this scheme consists of a hyphen-separated string consisting of a two-letter country code drawn from [ISO 3166], an agency code unique within its country, and an identifier unique within the agency. For example, us-afb-x12345.

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  35. I do not have a DAISY player, how can I hear the DTB?

    You can sort all the audio files (with .wav/.mp3 extension) in alphabetic order and play them one by one in any player that supports wav/mp3 format.

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  36. Can I open multiple projects in an instance of Obi?

    No, you can only open a single project. But you can open multiple instances of Obi and open a different project in each of them.

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  37. Can I open multiple instances of Obi?

    Yes, you can open as many instances as you wish. See the topic Starting Obi for starting an instance

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  38. I want to perform some audio processing using Sound Forge. How can I do it?

    Obi allows you to export audio of any phrase or section to an external file. See the topic Exporting audio to an External file for details.

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  39. I have scanned images for a chapter of my book. The process of narrating the contents and recording in Obi is becoming very cumbersome. Can Obi change its skin like Windows Media Player to suit my requirements?

    Obi comes with a pop-up toolbar that constitutes the controls for recording and structure mark-up. You can display it by clicking View->Show recording toolbar on the menu. Recording toolbar is separate from Obi’s application window, enabling the users to use it even when Obi is minimized. For more details, see the topic Recording toolbar.

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  40. After applying phrase detection, I lost some useful piece of audio from the beginning of the phrase. What could have happened?

    The option Retain initial silence must be turned off. You can turn this option on or off from the audio preferences tab of the Preferences dialog.

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  41. I imported a very long audio file in a phrase and have lost most of the other phrases in my section. What could have happened?

    When a phrase exceeds the current width of Content view, other phrases of the section are adjusted to match its length. To alter this behavior, you can delimit the width of Content view by checking the checkbox Fix Content view width in Project preferences.

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  42. While importing a DAISY book, some errors occurred. Can I still import my book?

    If the errors occurred due to discrepancies between the duration of audio content of phrases and their respective entries in the SMIL file, you can import your DAISY book. Simply, increase the Import tolerance using Project preferences.

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  43. What is advanced recording mode?

    Advanced recording mode lets the users to gear up the process of recording. You can enable or disable the advanced recording mode using Audio preferences. The options provided by this mode are described in the topic Live Recording.

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  44. I encountered a package error code 2896 while installing Obi on Windows Vista. What should I do?

    You must have the administrator privileges for installing Obi. Follow the instructions given below to install Obi on your system:

    · Run the Command Prompt with administrator privileges.

    · Go to the directory where the setup file is stored.

    · Type setup.msi on the Command Prompt and press Enter.

    The installer will start installing Obi.

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  45. What are system requirements for obi?

    Obi requires the following hardware configuration:

    Minimum:
    1.2 Giga Hertz processor
    512 MB RAM
    Sufficient hard disk for storing wav files

    Recommended:
    2.8 Giga Hertz single core processor/ 1.8 Giga Hertz dual core processor
    1 GB RAM for windows XP / 1.5 GB RAM for windows vista
    Sufficient hard disk for storing wav files

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  46. Is obi compatible with 64bit windows operating system?

    Yes, it has been tested on windows vista 64 bit and windows7 64 bit system. You can download obi's 64 bit installer from Obi setup 64 bit.zip

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  47. I already have DirectX 10 on my machine, do i still need to install DirectX 9c to install obi?

    Yes, you still need to install DirectX 9c. This will be automatically installed if offline installer is used , it can be downloaded from Obi-1.1_complete_setup.exe (self extracting zip).

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  48. I encountered a package error code 2896 while installing Obi on Windows Vista. What should I do?

    You must have the administrator privileges for installing Obi. Follow the instructions given below to install Obi on your system:

    Run the Command Prompt with administrator privileges.
    Go to the directory where the setup file is stored.
    Type setup.msi on the Command Prompt and press Enter.
    The installer will start installing Obi.

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  49. Are there any accessibility features for people with low vision in Obi?

    Obi provides zoom and audio zoom for magnifying the elements of the Obi screen. To magnify or shrink all the elements of the Obi screen, press Ctrl+Alt++ or Ctrl+Alt+- respectively. To stretch or skew the waveform corresponding to a particular phrase, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift++ or Ctrl+Alt+Shift+- respectively. To further assist you while working, audio clues are provided. Obi also adjusts its colors for better visibility when the system is switched to high contrast mode.

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  50. If I have not saved the project, and a crash occurs, what can I expect to lose?

    All the data entered after the project was last saved will be lost. The audio data however, would remain on the disk till you re-open the project in Obi, but it would not be referenced in the project file. You can choose to auto-save to minimize the risk of loosing important data.

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  51. I have cleaned unreferenced audio, can I revert to previous state? What can I undo?

    You cannot revert to an earlier state, once you have executed this command as it deletes all the audio data from the disk. However, the audio that is referenced in the undo record remains and can be reverted, if you perform redo operation(s).

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